Introduction

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Golfing Injuries

Firstly, golf is a safe game as far as sports injuries go. The demands made on our cardiovascular system are not excessive, which is a good thing if you want to play a game into your 80's. Some demands on our muscular and skeletal system are great. When all injuries due to golf are collated, the most common injury affecting all level of players is lower back pain. The level of lower back pain sufficient to cause concern amongst the general (non-golfing) community has been estimated to be about 80% of the population, and the mechanics of a golf swing - the bend forward, tilt to the right (for a right handed player) and the rotation combine together to create a strain on the lower back which has destroyed careers, and certainly caused pain.

I hope to detail some strategies to prevent this, and to improve your clubhead velocity at the same time. Make no mistake however - the forces we are dealing with are great, the golf swing involves compression force on your lower back in the order of 8 times your body weight. The force required to tear a spinal disc apart is about 5450 Newtons, while the force we generate during our swing has been estimated at between 6000 and 7500 Newtons. It is only the brief time that this force is applied the allows us to swing a club at all. We need strength in special muscle groups to protect the spine, and also techniques of swinging the club which do not create huge The expression, "forces summate" -i.e. they add up, is relevant, we try to create a force with our body, this force begins with contact to the ground. A force we generate with the legs (hopefully does) pass via the trunk to the shoulders, arms, wrists, hands and club. This force begins with the feet. It is therefore essential to have good footwear, You will not see professional golfers wearing old floppy shoes - you should not wear them either. A good shoe will allow your foot to remain in a "neutral" position - not rolled in or out, and will allow the beginning of a good swing - the ground reaction force to transmit up the body. Good footwear will mean an easier walk around the course also.

A difference between professional golfers and amateurs is the position they consistently place their feet. It is the same each time at address with each particular club - a professional is much more consistent with where their feet are and where the weight is carried on each foot. Biomechanics labs have stood pro golfers on force platforms telling us exactly where they place their weight - and it remains consistent, whereas amateurs tend to place their weight differently each time - so, get consistent. By placing your weight in the mid section of the foot - the arch and heel region of the inner foot you allow the maximum rotation through the pelvis, and you counter somewhat the natural inclination to lean forward through the backswing. Try placing all the weight on the outer aspect of your feet and see how difficult it is to rotate - then try your weight on the inner aspect of the foot - its much easier. As to lifting your heel during the backswing, let your professional advise you about that and your particular swing.

An analysis was made of the Japanese professional golfer, Hidemichi Tanaka in a biomechanics lab - with the aim of finding out how he generated so much clubhead velocity in spite of his small stature. It was found that the muscles of his back (right) leg initiated his downswing, before the upper body reached the top of the swing. During his downswing there was minimal muscle contraction of the upper body until the left arm reached the horizontal level - the ground reaction forces peaked at ball impact at 184 percent of body weight. Ground reaction forces could be thought of as how much force you push down through the feet with(1).

Forces then travel up the legs, thighs & hips to the lower back and beyond. If you hit a 5 iron about 150 metres, you generate about 160 kph (100 mph) clubhead speed, and to do that you generate about 4 horsepower - to generate 4 hp you need about 16 kilo of muscle. The best place to look for 16 kg of muscle is around the hips/thighs and large trunk rotators - they are the powerhouse of the swing. Learn how to use this powerhouse correctly, not just swing those arms as quick as you can. The deltoid muscle in the arm - the muscle just below the shoulder that contracts when you lift your arm to the side is actually non active at all in many professional golfers while they swing.

This leads me to the final points to make in this section: when professional golfers swing a golf club they use very consistent muscle patterns - but each golfer will use their own patterns, some activate muscles that other golfers do not, i.e. each golfer has their own swing, but they are consistent within that swing - an old saying is true " there is not one swing for everyone, but everyone needs one swing".

I know exercise is important to build up strength, and a stronger golfer should be a better golfer - so using some very advanced science of exercise physiology which many golfing magazines don't know about, try this. You exercise the muscles in the manner in which you want them to improve their strength in - this is termed "muscle specificity". Try swinging a weighted club. Get some lead weight from a plumbers supply store and wrap around the head of an old iron - swing it gently and in control - and you will be exercising the muscles you use in YOUR swing, in a similar manner to which you want them used. This is much better than riding an exercise bike, or swimming - all "good" exercise, just not specific for golf. Analysis of a golfers swing to find out which muscles power that particular swing may require individual attention from a sports physiotherapist, however a general rule is that you need to rotate your trunk to swing a club, so looking at the trunk rotators with a view to strengthen them seems obvious. The downswing requires a stable scapula (shoulder blade), and the position at the top of the backswing places stress on the acromioclavicular joint, the follow through position places stress on the shoulder rotator cuff muscles, these could do with strengthening, so shoulder exercises are appropriate. As has been mentioned the compressive loading on your lower back is huge during a golf swing, so the trunk stablisers - transverse abdominus especially needs attention. Look in the section "anatomy" for the location of these muscles.

Good Golfing.

(1) Biomechanical analysis of professional golfer's swing: Hidemichi Tanaka. Okuda, I Armstrong, C.W. et al Science and Golf IV, Proceedings of the world scientific congress of golf: Thain E. Ed., 2002.